Movie/TV News (1 Viewer)

[dragon53]

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31

STAR TREK---Roddenberry Entertainment released a video, for the 100th anniversary of Gene Roddenberry's birth in 1921, of a LEGOS version of US tv's first interracial kiss between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura on STAR TREK.

LINK: https://collider.com/lego-star-trek-kiss-gene-roddenberry-william-shatner/

THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES---trailer released for the Netflix animated sci fi comedy movie.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uwkoiZKwCE



THE MAN WITH THE MIRACULOUS HANDS---Woody Harrelson will star in this movie based on the book about Felix Kersten, the physical therapist for Nazi SS leader Heinrich Himmler, who used his influence with Himmler to save thousands of prisoners held in Nazi concentration camps.

OBI-WAN KENOBI---Ahmed Best confirmed he will not return as Jar Jar Binks in the Disney+ miniseries, "Thanks for the love, but I will not be in this series. As much as I would’ve loved to be a part of it. But I’m ecstatic to see folks who I love dearly back together doing great things."

ROCKY---Sylvester Stallone posted that he is working a tv series prequel to the original 1976 movie, “I started out this morning by writing a treatment for a Rocky prequel For streaming. Ideally 10 episodes for a few seasons to really get to the heart of the Characters in there younger years – Here is a small portion of how my creative writing Process starts…Hope it happens – And then I needed to clear my head so I went fishing… Talk about extremes! Keep punching my friends.”

SPLENDID SOLUTION---Jeremy Strong will star in this movie about virologist Jones Salk developing the polio vaccine.

THE SUBJUGATE---tv series underway based on the sci fi novel set in 2040 where two homicide detectives investigate murders in a religious community that has rejected technology.

THE EVENING AND THE MORNING---tv series underway based on the Ken Follett novel.

YOUNG SHELDON---CBS renewed the series for three more seasons.

TRIVIA---in INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, David Niven was supposed to play Captain Phillip James Blumburtt, reportedly as a tribute to his role in THE GUNS OF NAVARONE which was an inspiration for THE TEMPLE OF DOOM. However, Niven passed away several weeks before filming began, and the role went to Philip Stone.

 

[dragon53]

PART 2

THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN---Universal Pictures remake underway of the 1971 movie based on the Michael Crichton novel. The remake plot has a team of US scientists working in a secret underground lab who discover a Texas border town was wiped out after a US spaceship landed in the town after returning from a journey to the planet Andromeda. The spaceship was carrying thousands of aliens from Andromeda who will be employed as laborers for Big Business and are infected with a deadly virus.

THE AVENGERS---following accusations of inappropriate behavior against Joss Whedon while filming JUSTICE LEAGUE, Scarlett Johansson posted a photo from THE AVENGERS film set in which Whedon blatantly mocked and made crude comments about her acting which led to Johansson almost stabbing him with a weapon prop, Chris Evans almost punching him and Jeremy Renner almost strangling him with the string of his bow. Robert Downey, Jr. intervened and saved Whedon, but Downey later said he wished he had punched Whedon himself.

JAMES BOND---producer Barbara Broccoli announced that Lashana Lynch, who plays 007 in NO TIME TO DIE, will be Daniel Craig's successor as the new James Bond. When asked if Ian Fleming is rolling over in his grave, Broccoli replied, "Ian who?"

AMERICAN DUCHESS: THE REAL WALLACE SIMPSON---movie underway based on the book about American socialite Wallace Simpson's marriage to King Edward VIII which caused a constitutional crisis in England that led to him abdicating the throne to be with "the woman I love". Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will be the stars and Oprah Winfrey is the director.

BODY HEAT---remake underway of the steamy Kathleen Turner movie about a gold-digging, voluptuous vixen who seduces a not-too-bright man. The remake will include Turner's classic line from the original movie, "You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man." Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will be the stars and Oprah Winfrey is the director.

LOONEY TUNES CARTOONS---HBO Max and Warner Bros. Animation announced that Bugs Bunny will be the first transgendered character in the tv series. The new Bugs will use her feminine charm to persuade Elmer Fudd to give up his rifle.

BABY DRIVER 2---Ansel Elgort and Lily James will return for the sequel in which getaway driver Baby seeks revenge on the heist gang that stole $100 million from a bank after they replaced him with a Tesla self-driving getaway car.

 

[dragon53]

THURSDAY, APRIL 1

STAR WARS---Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy announced that all images of Gina Carano as Cara Dune will be eliminated from THE MANDALORIAN using ILM CGI technology after she was fired because some of her social posts were seen as being anti-Semitic. Kennedy also said all images of Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Christopher Lee as Count Dooku will be removed from all STAR WARS movies by ILM because both white actors played non-white minority characters in earlier movies that are now considered to be racist. Guinness played Prince Faisal in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, and Lee played Fu Manchu in THE FACE OF FU MANCHU.
Kennedy said the deleted characters of Cara Dune, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Count Dooku will be replaced with faceless, raceless, sexless, non-speaking CGI characters who say nothing and do nothing.

STAR TREK: TIME AFTER TIME---Nicholas Meyer announced that William Shatner and Malcolm McDowell will star in his new STAR TREK movie that combines a reboot of the STAR TREK episode "Wolf in the Fold" and his 1979 time travel movie, TIME AFTER TIME. Meyer said the plot has Captain Kirk and the starship Enterprise traveling back in time to team up with HG Wells to apprehend the alien serial killer that was originally Jack the Ripper in Victorian London. In the future, the alien entity fled to other planets where it continued its bloody attacks on women including the planet Argelius II where Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott was the prime suspect.

INDIANA JONES: THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE YETI---George Lucas announced the plot for the last Indiana Jones movie starring Harrison Ford. The movie begins in 1938 when Nazi SS leader Heinrich Himmler sends a scientific expedition led by zoologist and SS officer Ernst Schafer to Tibet's Himalayan Mountains to search for the Yeti, a mythological superbeast that was the missing link between the Aryans, the god-like survivors of Atlantis, and the German people. Flash forward to April 1,1945 when the Third Reich is crumbling under the Allied invasion of Germany, and Adolf Hitler flees his underground bunker in Berlin and flies to the Himalayas where he will start the Fourth Reich which will be composed of his Nazi followers and a powerful army of fierce Yetis. Indiana Jones learns of the Fourth Reich and teams up with a beautiful Tibetan princess (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) and the Yeti Resistance to defeat Hitler and the Nazi menace once and for all.

Zoologist and SS officer Ernst Schafer (right) led a scientific expedition to the Himalayan Mountains where he found the Aryan superbeast, the Yeti.

JOE HAS FALLEN---the sequel to OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN has Gerard Butler returning as Secret Service Agent Mike Banning who investigates why President Joe Biden keeps falling down because it is windy. Banning thinks the wind is a weapon of mass destruction, and the prime suspects are Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and Vice President Kamala Harris.

NOTE: PART 2 is continued on the post below this one.

 

[GICOP]

April Fool................I hope {eek3} ^&grin :salute::

THURSDAY, APRIL 1

STAR WARS---Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy announced that all images of Gina Carano as Cara Dune will be eliminated from THE MANDALORIAN using ILM CGI technology after she was fired because some of her social posts were seen as being anti-Semitic. Kennedy also said all images of Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Christopher Lee as Count Dooku will be removed from all STAR WARS movies by ILM because both white actors played non-white minority characters in earlier movies that are now considered to be racist. Guinness played Prince Faisal in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, and Lee played Fu Manchu in THE FACE OF FU MANCHU.
Kennedy said the deleted characters of Cara Dune, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Count Dooku will be replaced with faceless, raceless, sexless, non-speaking CGI characters who say nothing and do nothing.

STAR TREK: TIME AFTER TIME---Nicholas Meyer announced that William Shatner and Malcolm McDowell will star in his new STAR TREK movie that combines a reboot of the STAR TREK episode "Wolf in the Fold" and his 1979 time travel movie, TIME AFTER TIME. Meyer said the plot has Captain Kirk and the starship Enterprise traveling back in time to team up with HG Wells to apprehend the alien serial killer that was originally Jack the Ripper in Victorian London. In the future, the alien entity fled to other planets where it continued its bloody attacks on women including the planet Argelius II where Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott was the prime suspect.

INDIANA JONES: THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE YETI---George Lucas announced the plot for the last Indiana Jones movie starring Harrison Ford. The movie begins in 1938 when Nazi SS leader Heinrich Himmler sends a scientific expedition led by zoologist and SS officer Ernst Schafer to Tibet's Himalayan Mountains to search for the Yeti, a mythological superbeast that was the missing link between the Aryans, the god-like survivors of Atlantis, and the German people. Flash forward to April 1,1945 when the Third Reich is crumbling under the Allied invasion of Germany, and Adolf Hitler flees his underground bunker in Berlin and flies to the Himalayas where he will start the Fourth Reich which will be composed of his Nazi followers and a powerful army of fierce Yetis. Indiana Jones learns of the Fourth Reich and teams up with a beautiful Tibetan princess (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) and the Yeti Resistance to defeat Hitler and the Nazi menace once and for all.

Zoologist and SS officer Ernst Schafer (right) led a scientific expedition to the Himalayan Mountains where he found the Aryan superbeast, the Yeti.

JOE HAS FALLEN---the sequel to OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN has Gerard Butler returning as Secret Service Agent Mike Banning who investigates why President Joe Biden keeps falling down because it is windy. Banning thinks the wind is a weapon of mass destruction, and the prime suspects are Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and Vice President Kamala Harris.

NOTE: PART 2 is continued on the post below this one.

 

[The Military Workshop]

Very well done. Loved those movie ideas :salute::

 

[dragon53]

FRIDAY, APRIL 2

THE SUICIDE SQUAD---trailer released for the movie starring Margot Robbie.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBumm7mYT_0



YASUKE---trailer released for the Netflix animated series about a black samurai.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYcK1LQl_Fs



MONKEY MASTER---movie underway based on the unreleased Stan Lee comic book about New York archaeologist Li Yong who investigates the Chinese legend of the Monkey King which transforms him into the superhero Monkey Master. John Woo is the producer.

CSI: VEGAS---CBS ordered the revival series with William Petersen, Jorga Fox and Wallace Langham returning. The original series ran for 15 seasons.

THE OFFER---Dexter Fletcher (ROCKETMAN) will direct the Paramount+ 10-part miniseries about producer Albert S. Ruddy's efforts to make THE GODFATHER.

EVERY HOUSE IS HAUNTED---horror movie about an insurance investigator who has a hard time trying to debunk the theory that a couple was murdered by a haunted house. Corin Hardy (THE NUN) is the director. Sam Raimi is the producer.

WARNER BROS.---the studio cancelled two DC Comics movie projects: THE TRENCH and NEW GODS.

AVATAR---James Cameron commented on the writing of the sequels, "When I sat down to write the sequels, I knew there were going to be three at the time and eventually it turned into four, I put together a group of writers and said, ‘I don’t want to hear anybody’s new ideas or anyone’s pitches until we have spent some time figuring out what worked on the first film, what connected, and why it worked. They kept wanting to talk about the new stories. I said, ‘We aren’t doing that yet.’ Eventually I had to threaten to fire them all because they were doing what writers do, which is to try and create new stories. I said, ‘We need to understand what the connection was and protect it, protect that ember and that flame.'"

HARRY POTTER---a rumor claims Warner Bros. may be developing an R-rated reboot of the movie franchise. The same source also claimed Emma Watson is in talks to return for a HARRY POTTER movie, but it is not known if it is for the R-rated movie.

STEPS---Netflix animated movie musical about Cinderella's two stepsisters who are Asian immigrants.

THE CROWN---Dominic West will play Prince Charles in the final two seasons.

TRIVIA---in STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, James Cromwell played Zefram Cochrane, creator of warp drive, but Tom Hanks almost got the role. Rick Berman said, "When we were creating the character, we always had Jamie in our heads.". However, Paramount Pictures head Sherry Lansing wanted Tom Hanks for the role, but Hanks dropped out of consideration due to a schedule problem.

 

[Desertkiwi]

Very well done. Loved those movie ideas :salute::

'Joe has Fallen'......again & again.......Brilliant. {eek3}^&grin

....and the 'wind of mass destruction.'

 

[dragon53]

MONDAY, APRIL 5

GAME OF THRONES---HBO announced the show's 10th anniversary celebration.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AhrkmXy2Ec



BLACK WIDOW---new trailer released fir the Marvel movie.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp9pNPdNwjI



LOKI---trailer released for the Disney+ tv series.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW948Va-l10



ARMY OF THE DEAD---Zack Snyder released the poster for his Las Vegas zombie plague movie.

HOUSE OF GUCCI---Salma Hayek has joined the cast of the Ridley Scott movie about the murder of the head of the Gucci fashion empire. Hayek will play Pina Auriremma, who was sentenced to prison for helping her friend, Patrizia Reggiani, murder her husband, Maurizio Gucci. Lady Gaga, Al Pacino, Adam Driver and Jared Leto also star.

THE RIGHT STUFF---Disney+ cancelled the series. It will be shopped to other networks with the original cast or a new cast set in the 1980s.

DOCTOR WHO---Christopher Eccleston commented on how the series can survive after the Jodie Whitaker era, "I’m not a slave to the canon...I think if the show wants to survive going forward, it needs to explode the canon. That rigid adherence to, ‘There can only be this number of incarnations,’ et cetera, it’s nonsense. It’s nonsense. The imagination is limitless."

AMERICAN PIE 5---Tara Reid said another sequel might be underway, "It might happen. OK, I can't tell you when, because I don't really know when, because we have to get all the actors and at the same time to get our schedules together...There is a script out there, I'll put it that way...one of the best ones".

TRIVIA---more James Bond movie trivia.
In LICENSE TO KILL, some of the movie's action scenes were filmed on the Rumorosa Pass, a stretch of highway in Mexico that was closed due to a series of murders and other mysterious incidents which led to the Pass being called haunted. Among the unexplained incidents was a minivan of five nuns that went off the road and exploded, killing all of the nuns.
On the movie set, security guards at the parking lot for the trucks and other vehicles saw apparitions that disappeared when challenged. One truck started by itself and ran into a wall, and in the middle of the night, another truck inexplicably burst into flames.
In one scene, drug lord Felix Sanchez (Robert Davi) fired a Stinger surface-to-air missile at an airplane. Director John Glen said about the missile prop, "There was a guy up on a pole fixing the telephone lines, and he's up there and he got hit by that rocket, and he was 2 1/2 miles away from where we were shooting. And this just freak accident, it severely injured his elbow. This thing hit it from that distance." He added, "It was definitely a haunted place."

In LICENSE TO KILL, on the haunted Rumorosa Pass, Robert Davi fired a prop Stinger missile that hit a telephone lineman 2 1/2 miles away and severely injured him.

 

[dragon53]

TUESDAY, APRIL 6

STAR TREK: PICARD---Paramount+ video announces that John de Lancie is returning as Q (1:42 elapsed time).

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B20sCtCSPFc



STAR TREK: DISCOVERY---trailer released for Season 4.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ4CkuDx5LE



STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS---trailer released for Season 2. Also, Paramount+ renewed the animated series for Season 3.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSLcErfzHuc



THE WALKING DEAD---trailer released for Season 11.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtdP8sa1Zmk



THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER---rumors of Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum appearing in LOVE AND THUNDER began after Neill posted a photo of himself and Goldblum in Australia where the sequel is filming. Also, Goldblum was seen at a sports event with LOVE AND THUNDER's Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Taiki Waititi.
Neill's caption for the photo with Goldblum says, "JEFF GOLDBLUM spotted with cheap tour guide yesterday in Sydney."

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3---James Gunn commented on the sequel,
"ur designers & visual development geniuses are busy creating new, fantastic designs of other worlds & alien beings. I’m not sure the galaxy is big enough for all this magic.
This.
One.
Is.
Huge.
I’m excited."



HUNTERS---Jennifer Jason Leigh will play Nazi-hunter Chava Apfelbaum in Season 2.

CREED III---Sylvester Stallone confirmed he is not returning for the next sequel.

MINX---Ophelia Lovibond and Jake Johnson will star in this HBO comedy series about the first erotic magazine for women.

PEEPS---animated movie underway based on the marshmallow candy birds. The plot has a group of Peeps journey across the country to attend the annual Peepfest celebration in Pennsylvania.

TRIVIA---in SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, Richard Anderson plays Colonel Ben Murdock, who has a Navy lieutenant in the Pentagon Communications Center, transferred to Pearl Harbor after he accidentally leaks a top secret coded message about a military plot to overthrow the President to Colonel Jiggs Casey (Kirk Douglas). Ironically, in TORA! TORA! TORA!, Anderson plays Navy Captain John Earle, who was skeptical about a Navy destroyer sinking a Japanese minisub in Pearl Harbor just before the air attack on Pearl Harbor and is stunned when he sees the bombing devastation from the Pearl Harbor Communications Center.

In SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, Richard Anderson plays Colonel Ben Murdock, who has a Navy lieutenant in the Pentagon Communications Center, transferred to Pearl Harbor after he accidentally leaks a top secret coded message about a military plot to overthrow the President to Colonel Jiggs Casey (Kirk Douglas).

Ironically, in TORA! TORA! TORA!, Anderson plays Navy Captain John Earle, who was skeptical about a Navy destroyer sinking a Japanese minisub in Pearl Harbor just before the air attack on Pearl Harbor and is stunned when he sees the bombing devastation from the Pearl Harbor Communications Center.

 

[dragon53]

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE---new video released for the sequel.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9eh37VDAG0



SPY CITY---trailer released for the AMC+ spy miniseries.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rwWELt1Kx0



JUPITER'S LEGACY---trailer released for the Netflix series based on the comic book.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY3IAqm-gpE



THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD---trailer released for the movie starring Angelina Jolie.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kciXOTguPCs



GLADIATOR 2---an Australian gossip magazine claims Russell Crowe and Chris Hemsworth are discussing co-producing the sequel with Chris Hemsworth starring as the adult son of Maximus, “Russell thinks he could be the only man to credibly play his son in a Gladiator sequel.” Ridley Scott supposedly would be returning as the director.

MASTERS OF THE AIR---Raff Law, son of Jude Law, will play Sergeant Ken Lemmons in the Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg/Apple+ World War II miniseries.

GOODNIGHT MOMMY---Naomi Watts will star in this Amazon remake of the 2014 Austrian horror movie.

MOTHER LAND---horror movie underway about a family haunted by evil spirits until one of the children questions its reality. Mark Romanek (NEVER LET ME GO) is the director.

GOLDA MEIR---Helen Mirren will star in this untitled biomovie about the Israeli leader during the Yom Kippur War.

TRIVIA---Ralph Meeker co-starred as a captain in two movies in which rope-climbing up a prominent building were featured in the plot. In THE DIRTY DOZEN, Meeker played Army psychiatrist Dr. Kinder, who evaluates a dozen Army prisoners assigned to climb up a French chateau and kill many German generals inside. In THE ANDERSON TAPES, Meeker played NYPD Capt. Delaney, who orders a SWAT team to climb up an exclusive apartment building that is being robbed by Duke Anderson (Sean Connery) and his gang.

In THE DIRTY DOZEN, Ralph Meeker played Army psychiatrist Dr. Kinder, who evaluates a dozen Army prisoners, including Pvt. Jimenez (Trini Lopez), who must climb up a French chateau and kill the many German generals inside.

In THE ANDERSON TAPES, Meeker played NYPD Capt. Delaney, who orders a SWAT team, led by Sgt. Everson (Garrett Morris), to climb up an exclusive apartment building that is being robbed by Duke Anderson (Sean Connery) and his gang.

 

[dragon53]

THURSDAY, APRIL 8

TOO LATE---trailer released for the comedy horror movie.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hlM-Vx_8lE



ANCIENT ALIENS---movie underway based on the History channel tv series from the creators of COBRA KAI.

PAM & TOMMY---Hulu eight-part miniseries underway about the theft and marketing of the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee honeymoon sex tape. Lily James, Sebastian Stan, Seth Rogen and Nick Offerman star.

THE SYMPATHIZER---Park Chan-Wook will direct this movie based on the novel about a half-French, half-Vietnamese man who spied for North Vietnam during the Vietnam war.

THE WITCHER: BLOOD ORIGIN---Jodie Turner-Smith has left the Netflix prequel miniseries due to a schedule problem.

MacGYVER---CBS cancelled the reboot series with the last episode airing on April 30.

STEVEN SPIELBERG---Paul Dano will play Steven Spielberg's fictional father in the untitled biomovie inspired by his own life.

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000---Kickstarter campaign underway to raise 43.3 million for three new episodes and the Gizmoplex, an "online theater". Future goals are for $4.4 million and $5.5 million for more new episodes.

MABEL---Tyler Perry is developing a tv series that is a prequel to the Madea movies.

TRIVIA---in 1976, Michael Caine and Michael Byrne played German soldiers in the World War II movie based on the book THE EAGLE HAS LANDED. In 1977, Caine and Byrne played British soldiers in the World War II movie based on the book A BRIDGE TOO FAR.

In 1976, Michael Caine and Michael Byrne played German soldiers in the World War II movie based on the book THE EAGLE HAS LANDED. Caine played Col. Kurt Steiner and Byrne played Feldwebel Karl Hofer.

In 1977, Caine and Byrne played British soldiers in the World War II movie based on the book A BRIDGE TOO FAR. Caine played Lt. Col. J.O.E. Vandeleur and Byrne played his cousin, Lt. Col. Giles Vandeleur.

 

[dragon53]

FRIDAY, APRIL 9

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW---trailer released for the Netflix movie starring Amy Adams.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_0GJg_Jnlo



INDIANA JONES 5---Phoebe Waller-Bridge will play the lead female role in the sequel, but no details on her character were released.

MASTERS OF THE AIR---a replica of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and an airfield control center are being built at the Dalton Barracks film set near Abingdon, England for the Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg Apple TV+ miniseries. Dalton will not be used for any aerial scenes, “There will be no flying, although the runway will be used to film aircraft landing and there will also be aerial photography over the runway of planes taxiing.” The miniseries will focus on the 100th Bombardment Group.

PETE MARAVICH---Brad Furman (THE LINCOLN LAWYER) is the writer/director of this biomovie about Hall of Fame NBA basketball star "Pistol" Pete Maravich.

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 3---Nia Vardalos confirmed the sequel is underway with filming set in Greece and, "of course the entire cast is invited back.”

SAW X---the latest sequel is in the early stage of development.

THE REAL MAGIC MIKE---HBO Max reality competition series underway based on the MAGIC MIKE movie starring Channing Tatum. Tatum and Steven Soderbergh are the co=producers.

SHE-HULK---Renee Elise Goldsberry (THE GOOD WIFE) is in talks to co-star on the Disney+/Marvel Studios tv series.

TRIVIA---in THE VALLEY OF GWANGI, the dinosaur colors shift from brown/grey to blue/purple because special effects legend Ray Harryhausen was unable to properly adjust the colors due to time and budget problems.

 

[dragon53]

MONDAY, APRIL 12

DUNE---co-writer Eric Roth commented on the Denis Villeneuve remake movie, “[Working on DUNE] was wonderful. I'd done some work for Denis on ARRIVAL and we became kind of a little bit of soulmates. And so when DUNE came along, he asked me if I would approach it. And I did, and I wrote a big, full, overwritten Eric Roth draft that had certain things special to me. It needed to be, honestly, cut down and sort of harnessed, and Denis did some of that, and they eventually brought in a writer — I was busy, so they brought in a a writer named Jon Spaihts, who is a wonderful writer, who I think kept it grounded. And I think he... I don't want to say LORD OF THE RINGS, but I think it's really pretty spectacular. He’s a visionary of his own kind, Denis.”

SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS---Lucy Liu will play villain Kalypso, sister of Hespera (Helen Mirren) in the Zachary Levi sequel.

CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND---Justin Timberlake will star in the Apple TV+ tv series based on the Chuck Barris memoir in which he claimed that in addition to being a game show host/creator (THE GONG SHOW, THE DATING GAME), he also was a CIA assassin. The 2002 movie based on the memoir starred George Clooney and Sam Rockwell.

THE MANDALORIAN---Katee Sackhoff said she does not know if she is returning as Bo-Katan Kryze for Season 3, "I honestly wish that I could tell you that I knew something. I really don't know. I know where we ended and that's all that I have. I can only use my imagination and hope that we see some pretty cool stuff, but I have no idea."

THE 39 STEPS---Benedict Cumberbatch will star in the Netflix six-episode miniseries based on the spy novel. Alfred Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS starred Robert Donat.

STU---Jacki Weaver will co-star with Mark Wahlberg in his faith-based movie. No other plot details were released.

PERRY MASON---HBO confirmed that Titiana Maslany is not returning because her character's, “arc came to an end as planned in the Season 1 finale.”

MY BEST FRIEND'S EXORCISM---Elsie Fisher will star in the exorcism movie underway based on the novel.

TRIVIA---more James Bond movie trivia.
The producers of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY asked the band Blondie to write the theme song for the movie, but it was rejected in favor of the theme written by Bill Conti and lyrics by Mike Leeson. The producers wanted Blondie to record the Conti version, but Blondie's lead vocalist, Debbie Harry, refused, "They just wanted me to sing on their track. We actually wrote a song, our own version, and submitted it." Sheena Easton was then chosen to record the song and sang it during the opening credits.
The song received an Academy Award nomination and was a big hit reaching #4 in the US and #8 in England.

The original theme for YOUR EYES ONLY was written by Blondie, but it was rejected by the producers.

LINK: LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3anh2SV-7s


Sheena Easton sang the theme written by Bill Conti and lyrics by Mike Leeson.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTXLhEk3J8E

 

[dragon53]

TUESDAY, APRIL 13

ARMY OF THE DEAD---trailer released for the Zack Snyder zombie movie.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI1JGPhYBS8



THE HITMAN'S WIFE'S BODYGUARD---trailer released for the sequel.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPBGtKnNFuU



STAR TREK: PICARD---John de Lancie commented on returning as Q in Season 2, "I’ve always thought of it as being kind of a diamond in the rough, and having new facets of that stone that’s going to be cut. So here it is, many years later, we’re still cutting that stone. There will be elements of that stone which have already been cut, and they will simply need to be burnished up. And then there will be elements of this stone that will be newly cut, for which there will be people who go, ‘Oh I always thought you would go in that direction,’ and then others, ‘Oh, I like him the way he was before!’ It solved one major problem for me, and that is I feel very strongly about the whole thing of, you can never go back. Dare I say, how often have we gone back to meet with old girlfriends or boyfriends or what have you and you go, ‘Oh, I think it would have been better just keeping this in my imagination!’ Here, we are not, in fact, going back. We are taking what we have and we are moving forward. And to me, that’s exciting."

STARLIGHT---Joe Cornish (ATTACK THE BLOCK) is the writer/director of the 20th Century movie based on the comic book about intergalactic hero Duke McQueen.

GUNDAM---Jordan Vogt-Roberts (KONG: SKULL ISLAND) will direct the Netflix live-action movie based on the Japanese robot series.

PERESTROIKA IN PARIS---Barry Sonnenfeld (MEN IN BLACK) will direct this animated movie based on the novel. Frank Marshall is the producer.

RUSSIAN DOLL---Sharlto Copley has joined the cast in an undisclosed role for Season 2.

BORDERLANDS---Janina Gavankar will play Commander Knoxx in the Lionsgate movie based on the video game.

CINEMA TOAST---Showtime anthology series which features “post-modernist reinvention of older movies” including NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE. The voice cast includes Allison Brie, Chris Meloni and Christina Ricci.

BRIDGERTON---Netflix renewed the series for Seasons 3 and 4.

THE DAYS OF ABANDONMENT---Natalie Portman will star in the HBO movie based on the novel.

TRIVIA---in the little-seen horror movie PHANTOMS based on the Dean Koontz novel which starred Peter O'Toole, Ben Affleck played Sheriff Bryce Hammond and Liev Schreiber played Deputy Stu Wargle. Affleck and Schreiber reunited in THE SUM OF ALL FEARS based on the Tom Clancy novel with Affleck playing CIA analyst Jack Ryan and Schreiber playing CIA operative John Clark.

In the little-seen horror movie PHANTOMS based on the Dean Koontz novel which starred Peter O'Toole, Ben Affleck played Sheriff Bryce Hammond and Liev Schreiber played Deputy Stu Wargle.

Affleck and Schreiber reunited in THE SUM OF ALL FEARS based on the Tom Clancy novel with Affleck playing CIA analyst Jack Ryan and Schreiber playing CIA operative John Clark.

 

[dragon53]

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14

MORTAL KOMBAT---featurette released on the movie's fight scenes.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P7HmEtywHo



STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS---co-creator Akiva Goldsman commented on the new series, “'It’s unlike the other shows in that it’s really episodic. If you think back to THE ORIGINAL SERIES, it was a tonally more liberal – I don’t mean in terms of politics, but it could sort of be more fluid. Like sometimes Robert Bloch would write a horror episode. Or Harlan Ellison would have “City on the Edge of Forever,” which is hard sci-fi. Then there would be comedic episodes, like “Shore Leave” or “The Trouble With Tribbles.” So [co-showrunner] Henry Alonso Myers and myself are trying to serve that. We’ve all become very enamored, myself included, with serialized storytelling. And I’m talking to you from behind the stage where we’re shooting PICARD, which is deeply serialized. But STRANGE NEW WORLDS is very much adventure-of-the-week but with serialized character arcs… you can drop in, watch one, drop out, then watch another one later.”'
He added, “It’s a fine line because obviously, we want to keep continuity with the storytelling and the style, but we also want STRANGE NEW WORLDS to be a different show. It’s not DISCOVERY. There are a few more reach-backs (to THE ORIGINAL SERIES) and the uniforms have been adjusted slightly, the sets are slightly different. Remember the Enterprise existed as a little piece of [the show DISCOVERY], but now it’s its own object. When you close your eyes and think of the key sets and situations that you think of THE ORIGINAL SERIES, that’s what we’re looking to do.”

STAR TREK: PICARD---co-creator Akiva Goldsman commented on fan complaints that PICARD is too complicated, “I think where our storytelling is complicated, if it is frustratingly so, it’s just our own fault for not doing it well enough. The great thing about plot complication and character excellence is they shouldn’t be mutually exclusive.
Even a really complicated plot should ultimately become invisible, that’s sort of the job of it. CHINATOWN being the example that we all endlessly lean on in our imaginations. [It’s] really complex and complicated, yet at the end of the day you just remember it’s about water. There’s this elegant disappearing act so the characters can shine”
Goldsman also commented on Q returning, “[We] don’t pretend that the interstitial years didn’t happen. No, obviously, chronological time is less relevant to Q… We’re now talking about the issues that come up in the last [stage] of your life. We wanted a Q that could play in that arena with Picard.
There are a lot of people who think of Q as a trickster god, right? And he is. But he’s also a profoundly significant relationship in Picard’s life. There’s a lot of discussion in PICARD Season 2 about the nature of connectedness. Q’s kind of a great lightning rod for that because in some ways he’s one of Picard’s deepest – not deep in the same way that Riker is or Beverly Crusher was – but in its own uniquely, profoundly deep relationship.”

RENFIELD---Universal Pictures movie underway based on a Robert Kirkman idea about Dracula's henchman, Renfield, that is set in the present. Chris McKay is the director.

THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST PRINT: THE MAKING OF ORSON WELLES' THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS---documentary underway about the Turner Classic Movies-funded expedition to Brazil to find the missing 43 minutes of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. During World War II, Welles was in Rio de Janeiro working for the US Office of the Coordinator for Inter-American Affairs when RKO sent Welles a print of the movie to edit. The expedition hopes the print with the original 43 minutes are still there and can be found.

THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE---the Shout! Studios reboot of the 1982 slasher movie will premiere on SYFY.

ARLINGTON ROAD---Paramount+ is reportedly developing a tv series based on the 1990 movie starring Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack in which a college professor seeks to stop his neighbors who are planning a terrorist attack.

THE SPACE BETWEEN---Kelsey Grammer and William Fichtner star in this movie about a has-been rock star who befriends a mailroom employee who is supposed to get him to end his contract.

THE SON---Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern will star in the Florian Zeller movie based on his play.

TRIVIA---character actor Warren Kemmerling appeared in two movies in which he played a government official who dealt with important people leaving in a helicopter. In Alfred Hitchcock's FAMILY PLOT, Kemmerling played FBI agent Grandison as he dealt with jewel thief/kidnapper Fran (Karen Black) as she flew off in a police helicopter. In CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, Kemmerling played Major "Wild Bill" Walsh as he dealt with gas mask-wearing UFO seekers being evacuated in an Army helicopter from Devils Tower, Wyoming.

In Alfred Hitchcock's FAMILY PLOT, Kemmerling (center) played FBI agent Grandison as he dealt with jewel thief/kidnapper Fran (Karen Black) as she flew off in a police helicopter.

In CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, Kemmerling played Major "Wild Bill" Walsh as he dealt with gas mask-wearing UFO seekers being evacuated in an Army helicopter from Devils Tower, Wyoming.

 

[dragon53]

THURSDAY, APRIL 15

THE DRY---trailer released for the Eric Bana murder mystery movie based on the novel.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS091OoMtuk



THE BELIEVER--trailer released for the horror movie starring Billy Zane.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkuaomw1aMI



INDIANA JONES 5---Mads Mikkelsen will co-star with Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the sequel. No details were released on his role.

THE SEASON OF PASSAGE---Universal Pictures movie underway based on the sci fi novel in which a Mars rover photographs footprints on the surface which leads to a Russian expedition to investigate. After the Russians are never heard from again, a US mission is sent to locate them and discovers one survivor and horror. Mike Flanagan (DOCTOR SLEEP) is the co-writer/director.

MEMORY---Liam Neeson, Monica Belluci and Guy Pearce will star in this US remake of the Dutch movie THE MEMORY OF A KILLER which was based on a novel. The remake plot involves an assassin who is targeted by a criminal organization after he declines a job and must fight off other assassins while his memory deteriorates. He is also pursued by a female high tech mogul and FBI agents. Martin Campbell is the director.

THE GIRL FROM PLAINVILLE---Elle Fanning will star in this Hulu miniseries based on the true story of 17 year-old Michelle Carter, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after she used texting, emails and phone calls to persuade her boyfriend to commit suicide.

THE BACK NINE---Renee Zellweger will star in this comedy sports movie about a female pro golfer who tries to resurrect her career after her marriage to her golf pro husband begins to crumble and her son goes to college.

THE TOXIC AVENGER---Jacob Tremblay (DOCTOR SLEEP) will co-star with Peter Dinklage in the remake of the 1984 comedy horror movie.

HOME ALONE---star Kenan Thompson said the Disney+ remake movie is nearing completion.

WARRIOR---HBO Max has picked up the cancelled Cinemax series for Season 3.

TRIVIA---after Tom Selleck was unable to play Indiana Jones in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK due to MAGNUM, P.I., Jack Nicholson was a candidate for the role, and, reportedly, turned it down.

 

[dragon53]

FRIDAY, APRIL 16

SPACEMAN---Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan will star in this Netflix sci fi movie based on the novel THE SPACEMAN OF BOHEMIA. The plot is, "Sandler plays an astronaut sent to the edge of the galaxy to collect mysterious ancient dust. He soon finds his earthly life falling to pieces, and he turns to the only voice who can help him try to put it back together – a creature from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship." The director is Johan Renck (CHERNOBYL).

LOST CITY OF D---Brad Pitt will have a cameo in the romantic comedy movie starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in which a romance novelist and her novel cover's male model get caught up in a kidnapping adventure in the jungle. Pitt is returning the favor after Bullock agreed to a cameo in Pitt's BULLET TRAIN.

NIGHT AT CAMP DAVID---Paul Greengrass will direct this Universal Pictures movie based on the novel by Fletcher Knebel (SEVEN DAYS IN MAY). The plot involves Senator Jim MacVeagh, who thinks President Mark Hollenbach is becoming mentally unbalanced. The President's mistress, Rita, has the only evidence that confirms his suspicions.

SHINING VALE---new STARZ comedy horror series starring Courteney Cox, Greg Kinnear and Mira Sorvino. It is described as, "'...a horror comedy centered around a dysfunctional family that moves from the city to a small town into a house where terrible atrocities may have taken place. No one seems to notice except for Pat, who’s convinced she’s either depressed or possessed – turns out, the symptoms are exactly the same. Pat is a former “wild child” who rose to fame by writing a raunchy, drug-and-alcohol-soaked women’s empowerment novel. 17 years later, Pat is clean and sober but totally unfulfilled.
She still hasn’t written her second novel, she can’t remember the last time she had sex with her husband, and her teenage kids are at that stage where they want you dead. She was a faithful wife until her one slip-up: a torrid affair with the hot, young handyman while Terry was at work. In a last-ditch effort to save their marriage, she and Terry cash in all their savings and move the family move from the “crazy” of the city to a large, old house in the suburbs that has a storied past of its own. Everyone has their demons, but for Pat Phelps, they may be real."'

AQUAMAN 2---Pilou Asbaek is in negotiations to reunite with his GAME OF THRONES co-star Jason Momoa for the AQUAMAN sequel.

GAME OF THRONES---HBO's 10th anniversary celebration has unintentionally served as an opportunity for fans to demand a remake of the disappointing Season 8. Typical fan remake suggestions include,

"Fix making Daenerys a mass murderer
Fix Jon's parentage not even MATTERING
Fix how Winter came and it was over in two seconds
Fix Cersei's lame, love-swoony death
JAMIE AND BRIENNE, my god, what were you thinking

Oh, and Tyrion should have ridden a dragon"



PREDATOR---Jim and John Thomas, who wrote the original PREDATOR, filed a lawsuit against Walt Disney and its 20th Century Studios in order to regain the franchise rights which expire on April 17. 20th Century filed a counter lawsuit to retain the rights. 20th Century is reportedly developing a PREDATOR reboot directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 CLOVERFIELD LANE).

HERE TODAY---Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish star in this movie about a down-on-his-luck veteran comedy writer who befriends a young singer.

THE LAST OF US---Gabriel Luna (TERMINATOR: DARK FATE) will play Joel Miller's brother in the HBO series based on the video game.

TRIVIA---Robin Williams was in talks to guest star on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION as time traveler Berlinghoff Rasmussem in the episode "A Matter of Time". However, Williams had a schedule problem with Steven Spielberg's HOOK, and Matt Frewer got the role.

 

[dragon53]

MONDAY, APRIL 19

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS---trailer released for the Marvel superhero movie.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giWIr7U1deA



ANNETTE---trailer released for the movie starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On4v1gNJkrE




THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER---Christian Bale was photographed with his shaved head and slimmer look for Gorr the God Butcher while he and his family were in Palm Beach, Australia.

FURIOSA---the prequel movie starring Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy will start filming in June with a premiere on June 23, 2023. George Miller said, “‘FURY ROAD happened over three days and two nights [within the film]. This is a saga over many years and so there are a lot of different elements to it.”

THE MANDALORIAN---USA TODAY writer Sariah Johnson tweeted with Rian Johnson about directing an episode of THE MANDALORIAN, “I asked Rian if he’d ever consider doing an episode of The Mandalorian. He said he was dying to, but that for him it’s all about scheduling. He’s been writing [KNIVES OUT 2] and now he’s going to go directly into filming it. So it would be a matter of finding time to break away and do it. He said he has spoken to Dave Filoni about it.”

SECRET INVASION---Olivia Colman is reortedly in negotiations to co-star with Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn in the Disney+/Marvel tv series.

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK---Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt Russell, commented on playing his father's role of Snake Plissken in the remake movie, “Although that’s very kind, that will not be happening. There will be no Snake reboot from me, that’s like career suicide 101. That’s like what not to do. I don’t know if anybody else could be Snake Plissken.
Good luck, go get ’em, I sincerely wish you the best of luck. I just don’t know how it’s possible. And for me, if I really wanted to get people sending me hate mail, I think that’s what I should do. I will not be ever doing anything like that.”

CALL ME GOD---Paramount+ tv series underway about FBI profiler Jim Clemente and FBI SWAT sniper Tim Clemente, who were part of the investigation of the snipers that terrorized Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland in 2002.

DOWNTON ABBEY 2---the sequel movie is underway with the main cast returning. New cast additions include Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock and Dominic West. The premiere is set for December 22, 2021.

MIDAS MAN---Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT) will star in the movie about Brian Epstein, The Beatles' manager.

TRIVIA---more James Bond movie trivia.
In TOMORROW NEVER DIES, Bond Villain Elliot Carver's stealth ship was based on the Lockheed IX-529 Sea Shadow, an experimental stealth ship built for the Navy. The movie's stealth boat model was 30 feet long and weight about 3.5 tons. The stealth ship scenes were shot in a water tank in Rosarita, Mexico that was built for James Cameron's TITANIC.

In TOMORROW NEVER DIES, Bond Villain Elliot Carver's stealth ship was based on the Lockheed IX-529 Sea Shadow, an experimental stealth ship built for the Navy. The movie's stealth boat model was 30 feet long and weight about 3.5 tons.

The stealth ship scenes were shot in a water tank in Rosarita, Mexico that was built for James Cameron's TITANIC.

 

[dragon53]

TUESDAY, APRIL 20

THE LORD OF THE RINGS---the Amazon tv series will reportedly cost $465 million just for Season 1. By comparison, HBO's GAME OF THRONES cost about $100 million per season. All five seasons will reportedly film in New Zealand. Stuart Nash, New Zealand's minister for economic development and tourism said, “What I can tell you is Amazon is going to spend about $650 million [New Zealand dollars] in Season 1 alone…This is fantastic, it really is…this will be the largest television series ever made.”

THE FLASH---Michael Keaton was confirmed to be returning as Batman for the Warner Bros/DC Films movie.

SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE---Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson will direct the sequel.

ROBERT DE NIRO---Robert De Niro is divorcing his estranged wife, Grace Hightower. His attorney claimed he is working excessively just to keep up with his payments to her as agreed in their 2004 prenuptial agreement, "Mr. De Niro is 77 years old, and while he loves his craft, he should not be forced to work at this prodigious pace because he has to. He could get sick tomorrow, and the party's over. When does that stop? When does he get the opportunity to not take every project that comes along and not work six-day weeks, 12-hour days so he can keep pace with Ms. Hightower's thirst for Stella McCartney?"
Their prenuptial agreement says that De Niro will pay her $1 million if his salary is $15 million or more a year but will decline proportionately to his salary. As of January, 2021, her monthly payments have dropped from $375,000 to $100,000. De Niro claims Hightower is spending extravagantly and bought a $1.2 million diamond in 2019.

ROCK 'EM SOCK 'EM ROBOTS---Vin Diesel will star in the movie based on the Mattel robot toys in which a father and son befriend a high tech robot war machine.

FLORIDA MAN---Edgar Ramirez will star in this Netflix miniseries about an ex-cop who returns to Florida and meets a Philadelphia mobster's runaway girlfriend which leads a series of dramatic events.

WINGS OF FIRE---Netflix/Ava DuVernay animated miniseries underway based on the fantasy books.

Netflix---Netflix renewed both DOTA: DRAGON'S BLOOD and GINNY & GEORGIA for Season 2.

GUESS WHO?---NBC competition tv series underway based on the Hasbro board game.

JOE EXOTIC---John Cameron Mitchell will play Joe Exotic in the NBC/Peacock miniseries that also stars Kate McKinnon.

TRIVIA---character actor Woodrow Parfey is perhaps best known known for playing the diner cook Jaffe in DIRTY HARRY and Dr. Maximus in the original PLANET OF THE APES. He also played a fellow prisoner with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman in PAPILLON. Ironically, during World War II, Parfrey was wounded and captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. In the POW camp, most of Parfrey's regiment died of starvation. When he was freed from the camp, he weighed only 60 pounds. His son, underground publisher Adam Parfrey, said his POW experience made him detest the Germans, “He never wanted to talk about the war. He hated the Germans and the Nazis. That’s why we never had a Volkswagen or a German shepherd.”

Character actor Woodrow Parfey is perhaps best known known for playing the diner cook Jaffe in DIRTY HARRY and Dr. Maximus (left) in the original PLANET OF THE APES.

Parfrey also played a fellow prisoner with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman in PAPILLON. Ironically, during World War II, Parfrey was wounded and captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. In the POW camp, most of Parfrey's regiment died of starvation. When he was freed from the camp, he weighed only 60 pounds. His son, underground publisher Adam Parfrey, said his POW experience made him detest the Germans, “He never wanted to talk about the war. He hated the Germans and the Nazis. That’s why we never had a Volkswagen or a German shepherd.”

 

[dragon53]

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21

OBI-WAN KENOBI---a photo from the Disney+ miniseries film set shows what appears to be Luke Skywalker's Lars Homestead home on Tatooine under construction.

THE MEG 2: THE TRENCH---director Ben Wheatley commented on if Jason Statham, Li Bingbing and other members of the original cast are returning, and he hinted about more than one Megalodon, “I don’t think I can say at the moment what’s going on, the ins and outs of it. But guaranteed, there will be a Megalodon — maybe more than one.”
Wheatley said about the script, “...the script is by the Hoeber brothers that wrote the first script, so it’s kind of a continuation on from that story.”
He added, “A lot of it is respecting THE MEG, and trying to make sure it’s a great MEG film. And as you can see from the movies I’ve made, they’re not necessarily, it’s not … when you go and do DOCTOR WHO, I don’t completely change it because I wanted to do it. I didn’t want to necessarily make it something completely different that nobody recognized, you know? So there’s that element of back and forth.”
He said the sequel's bigger budget allows more action scenes, “It’s an opportunity to do action on such an insanely large scale, that it’s just unbelievable. From doing FREE FIRE, which was, I thought, was all my Christmases came at once in terms of action, this is just unbelievable. And just doing the storyboards for it, just thinking and going, ‘Oh,’ it’s just … I feel a heavy responsibility for it, to make sure that it kind of delivers on all the, to all the big shark fans out there.”

SECRET INVASION---Emilia Clarke has joined the cast of the Disney+/Marvel miniseries starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn. A rumor claims Clarke will be playing Abigail Brand, leader of S.W.O.R.D.

NETFLIX---Netflix will increase its original content budget to $17 billion for 2021 compared to $11.8 billion in 2020. This comes as Netflix's pandemic boom has slowed down with THE GUARDIAN stating, "The streaming giant added 4 million new subscribers in the first quarter, 2 million fewer than its original estimate of 6 million and half of the 8 million it added in the last three months of 2020. The company expects to add only about 1 million subscribers in the current quarter, which would be its slowest growth on record."

SPACE INVADERS---writer Greg Russo (MORTAL KOMBAT) commented on the movie based on the video game, "SPACE INVADERS is over at Warner Bros., and it’s at New Line, too, the same kind of crew that put together MORTAL KOMBAT, and that’s one I’m really excited about. That’s a movie when I approached it I was like, ‘I don’t want to do INDEPENDENCE DAY'. That was basically, I think that was the one thing I said, ‘I don’t want to do the invasion movie I’ve seen 100 times.’ And so for me, it was about finding a new way into that title, which I think is going to really blow people away expectations-wise and they’re going to see something that hopefully they weren’t expecting, so I’m excited for it."

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF---Antoine Fuqua will direct the movie based on the play. The 1958 movie starred Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor.

47 RONIN---the sequel to the 2013 Keanu Reeves movie will be female-led with Aimee Garcia and author/WWE star AJ Mendez as the writers.

TRIVIA---in JURASSIC PARK, child actor Whit Hertford played the obnoxious little boy who irritates Dr. Alan Grant at the fossil dig site. At 42 years old, Whitford is still a diminutive 5' 2" tall.
Whitford commented on rumors that his little boy character grew up to be Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) in JURASSIC WORLD, "for the record, @prattprattpratt is not playing a grown up version of my character in @JurrasicWorld. that role is mine, dammit!"

Whitford commented on rumors that his little boy character grew up to be Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) in JURASSIC WORLD, "for the record, @prattprattpratt is not playing a grown up version of my character in @JurrasicWorld. that role is mine, dammit!"